A BREAKFAST club has encouraged a woman who had never used a computer to complete an online qualification.

Marlene Devlin, volunteered to help run the new breakfast club at Brunswick House in Water Street, Runcorn, but first had to complete an online hygiene exam despite never having used a computer before

Ted Scholefield, ICT trainer at Halton Housing, provided Marlene with the help and support to enable her to successfully complete the hygiene course.

“I’ve never been in a position to use a computer before and to be honest I wasn’t really interested,” said Marlene.

“But I wanted to be involved with the club so I did the course and it was really good.

“I had a lot of help from the teacher on the hygiene course who taught me how to use the computer and I thought I picked it up quite easily.  The help from Ted was also invaluable.

“I am so thrilled I have learned how to do it and now my daughter is going to teach me how to use the computer even more.”

The breakfast club has been set up by Karen Olson, Scheme Manager at Halton Housing Trust, which runs Brunswick House.

Karen, Marlene and fellow resident Evelyn Hayes offer up beans, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and teacakes for the Trust customers every week.

The first breakfast was served up on March 24 after a consultation with customers who said they would support this service if it was offered.

“We wanted to set up a social activity that would ensure residents had the chance to meet up with their neighbours. The breakfast club seemed like an easy and fun way of doing that,” said Karen.

“We had more customers than first expected, some of whom had not joined in on any of the other social events held at the scheme.

“The dining room was full and the customers chatted away while having something to eat.

“The customers commented on how they enjoyed the morning it gave them a chance to see people they had not seen for a while in a nice setting.”